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Search in Book Reviews

The ACCU passes on review copies of computer books to its members for them to review.
The result is a large, high quality collection of book reviews by programmers, for programmers.
Currently there are 1918 reviews in the database and more every month.
Search is a simple string search in either book title or book author. The full text search
is a search of the text of the review.

This is a somewhat unusual book. It is made up of 293 'lessons learned'
in eleven chapters. Each lesson is self-contained. The chapters range
from 'The role of the tester' via 'Bug Advocacy' and various types of
testing to 'managing a testing group' to an interesting section on 'Your
Career in Software Testing'. Yes, strange as it may seem to programmers,
some people do have a career in testing software (and I don't mean they
are end users).

The lessons range from three lines to a page and a half. Though, as
with source code, their worth cannot be measured by line count. Lessons
vary from specific points to interesting techniques to philosophical
approaches, quite a mixed bag. It is clear that the three authors have
'been there', in fact there is a lesson on what to do when a testing
professional meets a manager with a deadline who wants to skip things. The
format of the book means that it is pure information with very little
waffle. There is not the usual narrative between points, though each of
the 11 chapters does have a brief introduction.

The "software testing" is general software testing and
documentation. It does not cover embedded software or related hardware
testing techniques, which are a whole different ball game.

My only problem with the book is its usefulness or how to use
it. I have similar books on Chinese and oriental wisdom, they too
are fascinating and contain much wisdom. The problem is remembering
the right proverb at the crucial moment. This book, that has many very
useful lessons, will make fascinating reading but will you remember the
right lessons when you need them?

I think that you need to go through the book as you start a project and
plan the testing. Noting down in your notebook the number if not the text
of those lessons you want to use and at which points in your project. I
would also advocate keeping this book to hand during the project to
read in those quiet moments for inspiration and confirmation that you
are not the only one who had that last problem. Highly recommended.